Thanks for all of the awesome reviews, and well done to everyone who guessed Itachi for the last chapter. In fact, you might see a bit of him in this chapter… But shush!

After a few more weeks of ferocious training, I began to suspect that the only reason dad took me to that shop on my birthday was so he could take my training one step further.

He said that my incredible progress had completely destroyed what he had expected at the beginning. I was much quicker, and my taijutsu was improving with each day I spent on it.

But every time we sparred, dad still managed to literally kick me around. I knew I shouldn't be surprised, or disappointed, but in the end my frustration still won out.

"How do you always win?!"

Dad didn't seem too shocked by my sudden outburst. Instead, he smirked. "Reason One: Dodging."

And a second later he was on me again. Though that time, and every time after that, it was different.

A year later, I still couldn't win. But at least, if nothing more, I could actually make my dad treat me seriously.

Following my uncharacteristic outburst, he always brought up another reason. Currently, we were on 'Reason Three-Hundred-and-Twenty-Eight: Predictability' – he claimed that although I had my speed, and sometimes, with a rare burst of chakra I could disappear for a split second and hit him with an unexpected taijutsu barrel from behind, if one took time to study my style, all the flaws would become painfully obvious, and thus be taken advantage of.

Just as he did with all three hundred and twenty-seven previous ones, he took time to help me fix and remedy my mistakes, showing alternative ways of attacking, or dodging.

Then, the day came; Dad ran out of reasons.

So, I proposed another spar.

We fought tooth and nail, like actual opponents, with a viciousness we had never fought with before. I tried to dodge his wind style, numerous kunai and shuriken, but still took quite a few hits.

However, the longer we fought, the more something stood out to me. A moment later, I confirmed it. From that moment on, I knew it was the only thing I could use as an advantage – even then, barely five years old, there was something I could use to help me win against my dad – to put it simply, I was already faster than him.

The sudden realisation served as a reassurance – I could win. With confidence increased, and a sudden boost of chakra, dad ended up pinned to the forest floor, with me on his back, paralysed by one of his own techniques.

I smirked at his shocked gasp.

I could get used to this…

Dad was away on a mission again. Ever since I beat him, he seemed to be out of the house more often than before. I didn't think he was the sort of person who would avoid me just because I managed to beat him.

It did take me two and a half years. And a fair bit of blood and sweat too.

But, I argued, he was a Jounin Commander after all. Just because he was training me doesn't mean his duties suddenly evaporated.

Then came the day when dad decided to expand on something which would end up saving my life more than once in the future: my surprising gift in chakra control.

To begin with, he gave me a leaf. I looked up at him, expecting it to be some sort of joke. He just gave me his signature eye smile and said:

"The point is to get this leaf to stick to your hand by only using your chakra. Most ninja can successfully emit chakra from their hands and feet, though there are some exceptions, like the Hyuuga." He paused, and I remembered what I've read about all the clans – the Hyuuga were a high-class clan with their own kekkei genkai called the Byakugan, and were capable of expelling chakra from every single one of the 361 tenketsu points. I admired their control.

"I see you already know your task. Crack on it, then!"

I honestly underestimated how annoying a leaf could be.

I was used to routine, a simple way of doing things which could then be tinkered, expanded on, and perfected.

Chakra control was something different. You had to have patience when attempting any sort of chakra manipulation, and the ability to evaluate what you did, and how to improve it.

I was OK with self-evaluation. But I was impatient.

Therefore, my first leaf exploded in my hand. The second one burned. Third ripped. Fourth shrivelled. The following sixteen leaves shared a similar fate, none of them splitting clean in the middle like they were supposed to.

After twenty failed tries, I grew furious. I didn't like failing, didn't like not knowing, I hated everything which I couldn't do.

Dad had once told me I shouldn't bottle my anger inside of myself – I happily followed his advice.

I gathered chakra in my hand like I had been for the past hour, and smashed my palm against the closest tree.

The trunk exploded into smithereens.

I smirked. It was wild, uncontrolled, unpredictable. I just kept gathering chakra in my hand, different amount every time, and tested the effects on the innocent trees. Some caved in, some exploded, some indented, others didn't change state apart from the small area I touched.

Half an hour later I found myself on the forest floor, panting and nearing chakra exhaustion, watching with a satisfied smirk on my face the different levels of destruction I'd caused.

I grabbed a leaf from the ground and took a deep breath. Gathering the last remains of chakra from my system, I engulfed my hand in a soft blue glow. I didn't release it immediately, just concentrated. I thought of a knife's edge, of a sharp gust of wind, or a senbon. Something which could slice neatly in half without too much effort.

I released my chakra at the leaf and opened my fist.

On the palm of my hand lay a leaf, with a perfect, clean cut through the middle.

Bingo.

I didn't notice I had fallen asleep and only realised it when I was being shaken awake by dad who had a panicked look on his face.

"Are you okay? Were you attacked? What happened?" he asked, worry evident in his voice.

"Nothing happened. Everything's fine. Actually, it's even better – look!" I showed him the leaf in my hand and gestured to the failed ones on the grass. "I finally did it!"

A look of understanding flashed in his eyes and he smiled slightly. "And I take it that the obliterated trees were your way of releasing frustration?"

I nodded sheepishly. Dad made me prove that I could actually do what he told me to. It took me a second to focus like I had when I did it, and I noticed it took considerably less time than before, and in a few seconds I had it cut straight through the middle.

Dad, visibly pleased at what I could do, proposed; "Well, are you ready to move onto the next stage?"

I was taken to another clearing and dad placed me in front of a tree. I stared at him with a bland look.

Tree climbing. Really?

I read about it, but never really tried it, deciding it was a little too high up for me yet as I was not too clear on my chakra control.

But, if dad believed I could do it, then I would.

I took my time with assessing my chakra, as before I had hundreds of leaves to make mistakes on, but this time, if I fell from the tree it would hurt.

I realised that because the tree trunk was stationary, I needed a constant, consistent flow of chakra which would work as a sort of glue for me to stick to the tree with. Once satisfied, I ran at the tree, hoping to use the gained momentum to my advantage.

I quickly made it up ten steps, twenty steps, thirty forty, before I stopped at a branch. I looked down at dad and grinned, waving my arm. He had a shocked, yet pleasantly surprised look on his face, but diligently gave me a thumbs-up for my effort. Then, he turned on his heel and headed out of the clearing.

That surprised me. Was he not proud of me? Wasn't there another stage of training we could move on to? Did this, dare I say, not deserve a 'congratulations' trip to the dango shop like before?

I had, after all, mastered two techniques within a day…

I decided to go down and investigate, but wanted to try something different on my way down.

Instead of running back down the trunk, I bounced from trunk to trunk, using my chakra to momentarily grip the bark, then quickly release its hold on the tree and push away. Once steady on the ground, I looked back up to the branch I was standing on and assessed that it was about thirty meters above the ground. Pleased with my chakra control, I made my way out of the clearing and walked back towards our house.

I stopped short a few meters away from the house, because I saw dad, but the thing which stopped me was the fact that he wasn't alone. I couldn't see the face of the person he was talking to, since they had their back to me, but what I saw was enough to keep me from interfering.

The stranger was at least a foot shorter than my dad, and had long, sleek black hair tied back into a low ponytail at the nape of his neck. He didn't look like an adult, even though he had an ANBU uniform on. He and my dad were conversing animatedly about something I was too far away to hear, but judging by my dad's outraged expression, I guessed it was something important.

I crept just a little bit closer, my curiosity finally getting the better of me and I was eager to hear what the males were talking about.

"-they can't make you do that! Please, let me at least-!" I was shocked. I've never heard my dad sound so desperate.

"I'm afraid they can. And they will." The – I only just realised – boy replied. "Don't interfere. I really shouldn't have told you in the first place…"

"But, if the Hokage hears of this he'll-!" My dad tried again.

"The Hokage knows." The boy snapped. "It was him who my dad talked to, after all. And he agreed."

It amazed me how the boy kept interrupting my dad, like he had some kind of superiority over him. However, what made me wary of the raven was his bitterness. It was everywhere, in his voice, his rigid posture, his authoritarian words. Yet I could also see resignation, like whatever he'd been told to do was inevitable, regardless of its cost.

"Then I have lost every ounce of respect I once held for the man." My dad spat. "I swear, if- Sakura, what are you doing here?" he demanded sharply.

Oh no.

Busted. I was momentarily surprised by Inner's rare comment, yet this time it proved to be absolutely useless.

"Uh," I tried my best not to sound meek. "I climbed the tree, and was just going to get something to eat…" I offered, suddenly realising how hungry I was. Then, I added. "By the way, dad, do we have any dango?"

I saw the corners of his mouth twitch up into a small smile. I sighed inwardly – saved for the moment.

"That's fine. There's dango in the top shelf in the fridge. Can you reach it?" he asked teasingly.

I huffed, playing along. Muttering a quick 'Arigato' I ran into the house, first searching for the much-needed cure to my sugar-deprivation, then, with the sweet treat safely in my hand, I snuck to the window, hoping to catch the rest of the conversation.

It seemed both males had said whatever they needed to, and I watched as the raven wordlessly extracted a scroll from his pouch. Unsealing whatever was in it, he pulled out a large, traditional-looking wooden box, and a rolled-up piece of paper. He handed both objects to my dad, and they stood in silence for a few seconds.

Finally, the boy bowed, and was just preparing to leave, when my dad's hand moved to lightly ruffle his hair.

I gasped as tears suddenly welled in my eyes. That action was reserved only for me… only I got to see my dad's soft-side. Who was this boy…?

As they parted ways, I quickly jumped onto the couch to erase any suspicions that I'd been spying, and tried to hide my tears.

When dad walked in, he headed for one of the enormous bookshelves we had in the room and pulled down an ornately-decorated box. As he took off the lid, I realised that the box was full of scrolls. Dad seemed to think about something for a moment then pulled out a bottle-green golden-rimmed scroll from the confines of the box.

"Here," he tossed it to me. "Read it. I think you're old enough now."

I turned the scroll over in my hands. "No label?" I asked rhetorically. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed dad took of the lid from the box he got from the boy as well, and transfer its contents into the scroll box.

I didn't see what they were as I was becoming quickly absorbed into the scroll. It described one of the hardest ever taijutsu styles anyone could imagine, but I quickly realised why he wanted me to read it; 'Specification: Speed, Chakra Control, Manoeuvrability'.

I scanned over the diagrams and uses, ideas of how to tinker and improve some movements, adjust them to my height, make them more deadly already flooding my mind. Once I was finished I looked up at dad with an exhilarated expression.

"Where did you get this?" I breathed. I was sure at least half of the styles shown in here were forbidden due to their effects on the body if performed incorrectly, so it definitely wasn't bought.

"When I was a genin, my team got into a lot of trouble, very often. We were sort of like that Uzumaki kid, never listening to authorities, dismissing rules. Even our sensei couldn't handle us." He chuckled.

"When they realised every 'punishment' – an extra-boring D-Rank mission – ended up in even more disaster, they split us up and assigned each of us what seemed like an eternity of D-Ranks. They were extremely boring, yet, I suppose, we deserved them." A reminiscing look flashed over his face.

"My last mission was something not even gennin are assigned to, as it's so boring that any normal person will drop dead because of absolute boredom half-way through – I had to make sure every scroll or book in the library was in its correct alphabetical place, and that the boxes had exactly what was written on the contents lists."

I cringed. I would have died. Or ran away.

"Half-way through a box, I came upon this scroll. It puzzled me, because it was not on any of the contents lists, and it had no title or letter on it to belong on the shelves. I thought about asking the librarian about it, but decided against it. I was young, and curious, and bored. So I took it. I renewed my search with new determination, hoping to find more scrolls like this. I did. All of them are in this box," he gestured to the box on the top shelf. "some of them contain forbidden jutsu, some are just historical records, others have some tips on the most important skills and abilities a shinobi should have, and how to use them. I'll let you read them when you're a bit older. The scroll I gave you contains a thought-to-be-forgotten taijutsu style, which was used widely in the First Shinobi World War due to its' destructiveness. It then became forbidden, for the same reason; it was not only harmful to whoever was on the receiving end, but also to the user, if he made even a single mistake. Mind you, none of the people who used it in the First War had the scroll to learn from, so they didn't know everything about it. It's safe."

I believe the last part was meant to be reassuring, as if he thought I was worried. Quite the opposite – I was impossibly excited. I had the means and the potential to learn an extinct style, one which no one would know about, and so no one would be able to predict my movements! It was perfect!

Dad must've noticed my excitement as he chuckled and offered to show me how it works. I immediately agreed and led him outside with a new-found bounce in my step.

He made a lazy hand-sign and two Shadow Clones appeared.

"This is a Shadow Clone," he explained. "I'll use it to demonstrate because it is more-"

"Stable and solid because it shared half of your own chakra. Yes, I know, dad." I finished, not meaning to sound rude, just eager.

He grinned. "Exactly. I want to use them because they'll show you the damage which can be done by a well-executed attack. Unfortunately, I never quite got around to mastering the full style as I lacked both, the chakra control necessary and the inhumane speed. Still, I think the effect is rather impressing, regardless."

He stood in front of the first clone and shifted into a stance I didn't recognise. So quickly I almost missed it, he spun into a reverse roundhouse kick and just lightly hit the clone on the head. I nearly scoffed.

But that was before the head and half of the upper body of the clone exploded into a gory, bloody mess. Just seconds later, the clone 'poofed' and ceased to exist.

I gaped.

Dad wasn't finished yet. He faced the second clone and shifted into the same stance. Just as fast as before, he cleared the space between him and his clone and drove his fingers into the clone's abdomen. It didn't explode, but the clone 'died' just the same.

Brushing some invisible dust off his jacket, he turned to me with a smirk. "Nice, huh?"

I nodded mutely, my mind overcome with one thought;

If dad never got around to fully learning the technique, yet he still could do something like that, what will I be able to do when I master it?

Every living, waking moment of the next three months was spent on learning the taijutsu style and applying it in my spars with dad's clones. I asked him once why he didn't spar with me personally anymore, to which he replied 'considering the rate at which I learn everything he throws at me, he wouldn't be surprised if I ended up 'exploding him', and he quite likes his head, so no thanks'.

And I guess he had a reason to be wary.

Given all the information I could need, and armed with my expanding knowledge and experience regarding chakra control, I had the style down in the first month. What I then focused on was expanding it, adjusting and tinkering it to be mine, the perfect, ideal attack. Something I was comfortable with.

By the end of the third month, dad's clones were a bloody mush and my confidence sky-high.

I didn't get to pass on the news to dad, as he was unfortunately away on a mission.

I decided to spend the evening of my success in the dango restaurant, and as I was coming home, I spotted a lone figure crouching on top of one of the lamp posts.

Curious, I quickly scaled the building closest to me and sat on its roof. My heart raced when I recognised the long, black ponytail of the man in front of me. It was the same man who was conversing with my dad a few months before. The same boy who my dad revealed his 'affectionate' side to.

Though this time, he didn't look so talkative. He was in full ANBU gear, katana glistening dangerously in the moonlight.

But there was something which worried me. His eyes were full of steely determination, face set in a near-expressionless mask. And yet, a single tear rolled from his eye, highlighted by the silvery moonlight. Slowly, he turned his head to me and I knew I had been detected. Just before he disappeared, I saw tear-filled crimson eyes and a defeated look.

His mask had crumbled before my eyes.

Unable to understand what could have caused him such grief, I returned home, dango in hand, ready to wait for my dad to return.

It was not until the next day that I realised what I had witnessed.

It was a tragedy.

An entire clan, single-handedly massacred in one night. One survivor left. The Hidden Leaf Village was bursting with sorrow, hatred and speculation. When dad returned, he found me sitting on the sofa, arms around my knees, reading.

I greeted him with a small smile before returning to my lecture.

Any thoughts I might've had about telling him what I saw the night before were forgotten about. There was no way I could ever share with anyone what I'd witnessed. It'd be my secret.

Dad sighed. "I take it you've heard about what happened." It wasn't a question, so I didn't see the point of answering it.

"Listen Sakura, sometimes people do weird things, scary things, unexplainable things. That's what that boy did. I don't know why he did it-"

Lies. I thought. He told you, didn't he?

"But I know that we can't do anything about it anymore, can we? What's done is done. All I can say is that I feel really sorry for the boy who survived."

That caught my attention. "Boy? A boy is the survivor?" I asked.

"Yeah. He's not much older than you, in fact."

I frowned. "Why would he leave a little boy alive and massacre the entire clan?"

"That boy is his little brother. He couldn't hurt him."

I paled. Sentimentality. I understood, but leaving the boy alive, without his friends, family, house or comfort seemed more cruel to me than if he'd killed him. But my sense of justice has always been a little different than my dad's.

"On another note," dad declared. "I've signed you up for the Academy! You'll be starting in September!"

That information successfully erased any thoughts I might have had about the massacre. Instead, I was filled with excitement and anticipation – I hadn't interacted with many children my age, and I was curious how the teachers at the Academy would differ from dad. Would their methods be as 'unorthodox' yet successful as his?

Somehow I doubted it.

"Sakura, I want to make you aware that I'll be having more missions now, since the massacre has caused other Villages to doubt Konoha's security and efficiency, and it's quite possible that they'll try to attack. Also, someone will have to re-establish the peace-treaties we have with some Villages, since they only sided with us due to the high amount of powerful clans and Kekkei Genkai which reside in our village. Seeing that one of them has been almost completely wiped out, they might try to reconsider their loyalties… I'll be leaving tomorrow."

I nodded as he kept explaining the politics of the whole operation. I was quite sad that there was a possibility that he'd miss my Opening Ceremony, but I realised that it wasn't that easy to uphold the position as a Jounin Commander.

"That's fine, daddy. Just make sure you come back in one piece." I saw surprise flicker in his eyes. I haven't called him daddy for a while, especially in that context.

He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. "I promise, Sakura-hime. I won't be gone for longer than a month."

I was getting worried. A month passed six days ago. The first of September, the day I'd be starting the Academy was only two weeks away now. Dad was still gone.

I never had a problem with looking after myself when he was gone. It was quite easy – he stashed a large amount of money in his bedside cupboard, so when I had to go grocery shopping I had the money, I could cook some basic meals without setting the kitchen on fire, and I was capable of cleaning the house and doing the laundry.

It was the fact that one day he might not come back that worried me. I knew he was an amazing ninja, strong and capable, but many great ninja died on battlefields, regardless.

I decided to stop worrying, and set to finishing my dango.

Another week has passed and still no sign of dad. I was lying in my bed, awake in the middle of the night, listening to the sounds of the thunderstorm outside and watching as the lightning struck every so often. I couldn't fall back asleep as my stomach was clenching from worry, and I had a bad feeling about the morning.

Somehow, I dozed off and when I woke up it had stopped raining, but it was still cloudy outside. As I set to making breakfast, I heard a knock on the door. Still in my pyjamas, I quickly went to open it.

I was right.

Dad never returned.

Instead, I was greeted by the sight of the messenger man, same one I saw three years ago, with tear-streaked cheeks and a black-rimmed scroll clutched tightly in his hand.

"I'm sorry."

It was all I needed to hear.

Sooo, some suspense.

How do you like this chapter? I personally put a lot of time into it, but I think it could've turned back better.

Your opinions?

I have a basic plot planned out for this story already, but if you have any suggestions, please include them in your REVIEW!

~Thank you for sticking with me & till next chapter,

Invincible Shadow